Part 3 : Problems with European E-Commerce

Looking at the broader situation among European companies now, do you feel that one of the barriers to effective online business practices in Europe is a lack of top managers who are able to grasp all the technical, managerial and economic issues involved?
A recent study of the top 500 Austrian enterprises (Webcheck 2000 by Roland Berger and Diamond Dogs) yielded - among others - two results:

1. CEOs know pretty well how to use the Internet for effectively managing their private stock portfolios (and some 90 per cent do so).

2. Those same CEOs' corporate websites earned rather poor grades in all the aspects reviewed.

The conclusion is the same as already given above. As long as the mentality "cool tool to use, but not overly important for my company" prevails, the European e-Economy will be ailing.

The Internet is strategic, and as such it is management's job to deal with it. And Austrian CEOs haven't grasped this crucial concept yet. But we (imPlus) are working on it.

So what's your general impression of how local companies have been able to adapt to the opportunities and threats posed by the Internet?
A recent visit to Austria's top Internet fair, the Interweb2000, gave a rather poor impression. Seems that, regardless of whether you look at it from the big, medium or small company's point of view, through the CEO's or entrepreneur's eye, we're still very much at the beginning of the adaptation process.

What advantages and disadvantages do companies in Europe have in comparison with their US counterparts when it comes to profiting from the Internet?
There is one genuine, almost genetic, deficit Europeans have compared to US citizens (we have many advantages in other areas, mind!): Americans are born service-oriented. They are friendly and helpful when it comes to dealing with a customer.

The Internet is a service industry. And it shows!

Trade shares online in the US. All US-brokers will - within seconds - let you know at what price the order went through, giving all the vital details. The shares are in your portfolio. The customer is happy. Trade shares in Europe. Maybe they'll let you know the following day if and at what price the order went through. Don't try calling them, the clerk might not even know her company has a website. True story. Called myself.

Order a book at . Next day a friendly e-mail is on the way letting you know the book was shipped and with which DHL parcel number, so you can track the shipment.

Order a book at the leading Austrian "Tainment-Company", as they call themselves - Lion.cc - five days later you are notified that the book ordered is unfortunately out of stock (I know a little bit about computers - and they should have been able to give you this information upon ordering). Making matters worse, you have to either send a mail (not simply a reply, a different e-mail-address is given) or call in should you still want this book at a later time. Enough said.

European e-commerce suffers from a lack of service orientation, which is inherited from brick-and-mortar businesses. And things are improving only slowly. E-commerce is understood as something necessary, but in many cases it is only done half- heartedly.

Are local etailers going to have a happy Christmas?
They surely will, but not because of hefty online revenues, if that's what you mean. Let's buy a DVD for Christmas. I love the "action" genre. And I'm patriotic, so I start out at Lion.cc, the Austrian "Tainment Company". The search brings back four titles.

OK, I'm still a patriot, but I do recall that Amazon.com also offers DVD. The same search returns 918 titles. Enough said?

A company I can heartily recommend to anyone looking into improving the customer experience of their website is Creative Good. I had the opportunity to meet with Phil Terry, CEO, at last years Comdex in Las Vegas. They just published this year's "Holiday 2000 E-Commerce" outlook under the subtitle "Avoiding $14 Billion in Silent Losses". Read it for yourself... Etailers worldwide could have a much happier Christmas.

And a final piece of advice for any small company looking to jump on the Internet bandwagon?
Write me at to talk about your plans beforehand! Besides that I'd like to quote Thomas D. Oleson, IDC Research Director and IT Advisor: "Don't do it in a crash project. I beg you!"

Continued...